Calamities claim over 10K lives in 3 yrs: Pujari

Bhubaneswar: More than 10,300 people lost their lives due to drowning, snakebites and natural disasters in Odisha over the past three years, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari informed the Assembly on Thursday. In a statement, Pujari said 10,302 lives were lost and property worth Rs 2,301.51 crore was damaged due to floods, lightnings, snakebites, fire incidents and drowning between 2021-22 and 2023-24.

According to the minister, 3,351 people were killed in 2021-22, followed by 3,649 deaths in 2022-23 and 3,302 fatalities in 2023-24. While drowning claimed 5,534 lives, 3,356 died due to snakebites and 874 fatalities were reported because of lightning. In addition, 429 died from fire incidents, 46 from heatwaves and 28 from boat capsizes, he said.

The State also reported six deaths due to landslides and 26 due to floods and heavy rainfall, the minister said while replying to a query by BJD legislator Souvic Biswal. Pujari further noted that four cyclones—Yaas, Gulab, Jawad and Michaung—hit the State in the last three years. While Cyclone Yaas claimed three lives, no casualties were reported from the other three.

To mitigate the impact of such disasters, Pujari outlined several initiatives by the State government. These include the preparation of disaster management action plans by all government departments and districts, strengthened early warning systems and the establishment of 24x7 control rooms at both the district and State levels.

For cyclone tracking, Doppler radars have been installed at Paradip and Gopalpur. Additionally, 26 coastal villages across six districts have been declared Tsunami Ready under the Indian Ocean Tsunami Ready Programme. The government has also set up 122 alert siren towers across district headquarters and 22 coastal blocks in six districts under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project, he added.

The government also uses the Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS), mass messaging, siren towers, digital mobile radios and the Sachet platform to inform the public about upcoming disasters, the minister said.

Furthermore, 844 multipurpose cyclone shelters have been built across 25 districts, and 20 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) units have been established in 15 districts. An NDRF unit is stationed at Mundali (Cuttack) and additional fire service personnel are deployed during natural disasters, Pujari added.

In 2015, the Odisha government had declared heatwave, lightning, boat capsize, tornado, heavy rain, drowning, snakebite and fire as State specific disasters, providing assistance to victims from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).